Biometric technology is used to confirm the identity of an individual to provide secure access to electronic systems (e.g., to perform financial transactions). After an individual enrolls in a biometric service (e.g., provides biometric data and a non-biometric means of confirming an identity), the individual can be authenticated via the biometric service. Biometric authentication (i.e., identification and validation) leverages the universally recognized fact that certain physiological or behavioral characteristics can reliably distinguish one person from another. Biometric technology includes both automatically collecting and comparing these characteristics. Digital representations of these characteristics are stored in an electronic medium, and later used to authenticate the identity of an individual.